Concerned about the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Mahindra Group Chairman Anand Mahindra took to Twitter and suggested “calibrated and selective unlocking” in regions where coronavirus cases are declining.
The industrialist shared a graph by American think-tank Pew Research Center on May 28, showing how the pandemic has financially affected Indians. According to the analysis, the pandemic may have shrunk India’s middle-class population by 32 million and driven an additional 75 million people below the poverty line in 2020.
The Pew Research report, based on an analysis of World Bank data, was published in March even before the second wave of COVID-19 hit the country.
The 66-year-old business tycoon called the financial impact of the pandemic a “harsh reality of lives vs livelihood” and said that “more lives will be ruined if economic activities continue to be frozen” due to coronavirus-enforced lockdown even if the restrictions had saved people's lives.
“The harsh reality of lives vs. livelihoods. Lockdowns have saved lives, but more lives will ultimately be ruined if economic activities continue to be frozen. Those areas/regions which have shown a strong decline in new cases should look into a calibrated, selective unlocking,” Mahindra tweeted.The harsh reality of lives vs. livelihoods. Lockdowns have saved lives, but more lives will ultimately be ruined if economic activities continue to be frozen. Those areas/regions which have shown a strong decline in new cases should look into a calibrated, selective unlocking pic.twitter.com/jPHvWNqZjG
— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) May 28, 2021
The next day, the businessman shared another image with a humorous take on his earlier tweet. Mahindra posted a picture of instructions written outside a swimming pool that read, "When pool re-opens, due to social distancing rules, there will be no water in lanes 1, 3 and 5."
He clarified that it was not what he meant when he called for a “calibrated relaxation of lockdown restrictions”.
The tweet immediately attracted netizens who started making funny comments. Within 24 hours, the post received over 4,700 ‘like’ and retweeted by over 290 social media users.This is NOT what I meant when I called for a calibrated relaxation of lockdown restrictions! pic.twitter.com/lKToZ4AqVa
— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) May 29, 2021